Many of the challenges that face the fire protection engineering
profession can be traced to a common cause: Most people do not know
about the profession or the important work that is done by fire
protection engineers.

One challenge is that the demand for fire
protection engineers far exceeds the supply. Part of the reason for this
is that people are unlikely to enter a profession
about which they are unfamiliar. Another challenge is that construction
design teams occasionally do not use fire protection services. It is
difficult for construction teams to understand the value of fire
protection engineers if they do not know who fire protection engineers
are or what they do.

In 2004, the Society of Fire Protection Engineers
(SFPE) began to focus on raising the profile of the fire protection
engineering profession. Goals were developed, a new staff person was
hired to help achieve these goals, and a public recognition strategy was
developed and implemented. To date, much of SFPE's efforts in this area
have focused on placing articles in the media that highlight the
important work done by fire protection engineers.

In his article that
begins on page 18, Ed Comeau notes that there is a tremendous
opportunity associated with educating students. In addition to the
short-term benefits associated with teaching students, they are likely
to retain the messages to which they are exposed beyond their student
years. Almost all technically oriented students study chemistry at some
point of time during their high school career. Many of the concepts that
are taught in high school chemistry classes form the foundation for
subjects that are relevant to fire protection engineering. Chemical
reactions are taught in high school chemistry classes and fire is a
chemical reaction. Many basic fire science concepts can be cast in a
format that is consistent with the topics in the high school chemistry
curriculum.

Therefore, as part of SFPE's public recognition strategy and
with the support of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Federal
Emergency Management Agency, SFPE is partnering with Discovery
Education, a subsidiary of Discovery Communications, to develop a
curriculum kit called The Chemistry of Fire. This curriculum kit will
provide a number of lessons and lectures regarding fire science that are
tailored to high school students.With the assistance of Discovery
Education, SFPE will ensure that the lessons and lectures are consistent
with the requirements in national teaching standards to increase the
likelihood that these curriculum kits will be used.

The idea for The
Chemistry of Fire curriculum kit originated from a series of lectures
and experiments that Michael Faraday delivered in the early and
mid-1800s. These lectures and experiments explored subjects such as how
fuels burn, flame structures and products of combustion. They were
intended to capture the attention and interest of lay audiences while
providing scientific information in an easy-to-understand format. SFPE
and Discovery Education will expand upon Faraday's lectures to address
subjects such as spread of fire and creation of toxic fire products. One
part of The Chemistry of Fire curriculum kit will also identify how
knowledge about basic fire science can be applied to design ways to
protect people and property from fire.

Once completed, The Chemistry of
Fire curriculum kit will be distributed to almost 20,000 schools in the
United States, with the potential to reach nine million students
annually. Additional copies will be available from SFPE. The Chemistry
of Fire curriculum kit will provide two major benefits. First,
scientifically oriented high school students will learn about fire
protection engineering at a time when they are considering career
options. Secondly, basic fire safety strategies will be provided to
millions of high school students along with information regarding why
the fire safety strategies are important. It is hoped that these
students will apply these strategies in their homes and in the homes of
other family members, and hopefully retain this information for a
lifetime.

The Chemistry of Fire curriculum kit will be provided to
20,000 high schools, along with information regarding why the
fire-safety strategies are important.